Ten different groups of kids across five days in ten different libraries? That's what I call a solid week's work. Thankyou to Hull Libraries for making it possible. Look at all of these comics. See, there's more...
I have definitely never worked in as so many different libraries in one city before. I don't know if I would have thought there were that many libraries in a city the size of Hull. But I am happy to confirm they are, and their kids make comics that look like these.
Greenwood and Gypsyville libraries on the Monday started off a worrying trend, whereby between 15 and 20 kids had put their names down for the class, but only 5 and 7 respectively turned up. They had fine classes between them and produced sterling comics, but it was a shame I wasn't working with a larger group.
The low attendance continued at The Freedom Centre and Bransholme Library, where I was realising how glad I was to be on a fixed fee rather than a doorsplit for this week's classes. They were, of course, free for the kids to attend. But as often happens when that's the arrangement, it costs the parents nothing to forget about it and take the kids somewhere else instead. So it was that, after two days, we were averaging 6 kids per class.
Waudby library stands in the middle of a wasteland, within sight of Hull Kingston Rovers' stadium. Hull can be a funny place to look at sometimes. It was, for a few days, also quite a smelly one. I'd arrived during the annual stinky period, which no-one can quite explain but seems to be a regular occurence whereby, as a possible result of farmers spreading muck in the surrounding areas, Hull smells like a mix of poo and BO. Most unpleasant, and exacerbated by us being at the end of the longest uninterrupted heatwave for fifty years. Anyway, smell notwithstanding, the classes at Waudby and East Park managed only half a dozen pupils apiece I'm afraid.
The classes at Fred Moores Library and Western Library managed to reach the two extremes of the week, bringing our biggest audience at Fred's, a dozen kids, and my smallest ever at Western, just three. This day, the Thursday, also saw the arrival of the long awaited rain which washed away the smell. So there was that.
I can confirm Hull has more libraries than the ten I worked at this week, because the one I was scheduled to be at on Friday morning, Avenue, suffered a fire so I did my class instead at Central Library, for the usual five kids. In the afternoon, at Lighthill library, there were 4 kids. Meaning that, across the week, I'd presented my Comic Art Masterclass to a total of 60 kids. Which is, of course, the amount I'll usually teach in a day in a school. The classes were of course marvellous fun for everyone involved, and I'm really pleased Hull had me in to do them. I just wish I'd been able to offer them more bang for their buck and sent a few hundred kids away happy.
The celebrities these ten groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Taylor Swift, Tom Holland (three times), Cristiano Ronaldo, Tony Hawk (not the Radio 4 one, the skateboarding one), old creepy evil Michael Jackson, Ariana Grande, Shakira, and I Show Speed.
My Books And Where To Find Them...
